Page 21

Let’s pause for a moment to think about the implications of portkeys and the dangers involved with just LEAVING these tangible enchanted objects out in the middle of the world? In some cases, if you live remotely enough, it’s possible to leave.. say, a boot on a tree stump in the middle of a field. 😉 But if you live on an estate in Ireland or some other highly populous area with loads of foot traffic and cars passing by… how do you transport yourself discreetly and HOW do you make sure your portkey doesn’t get swept up as part of a push for Tidy Towns? You make it appear to be a rat. Granted, I’m not so sure how long that’ll work either! Amaryllis might find herself having to deal with Animal Control clearing her next portkey away… -A

AMARYLLIS: You couldn’t see through the charm? It was fairly weak. I started doing it years ago when muggles got so obsessed with their little tidying initiatives. Well-meaning folk kept throwing my portkeys in the bin! Hellishly bad for my schedule. Sorry, dear, I thought you could see what it was.
AMARYLLIS: Let’s drop your things at the inn before we start shopping.

Glew

So there are 2 implications here:
1) in this wolrd, wizards can see portkeys for what they are (whatever that may be… as in the books they were legit junk)
2) Seth for some reason can’t do this. Which suggests he may be a little different? Or maybe it is just because he is underexposed to magic.

Underexposure to magic is my reasoning. Unless a child is incredibly powerful, it makes sense to me that a magical child raised in a muggle home with little to no exposure to magic wouldn’t be able to immediately identify spellwork or see through perception spells. That’s a learned skill that comes with exposure. Otherwise, things would get hairy– imagine a small muggle-raised wizard openly pointing out repelling charms in public… -E

Glew

Makes a lot of sense, especially with the muggleborn kids. In the books Harry also didn’t even notice the Leaky Cauldron first, so it kinda fits the canon too even.

I guess it can be a bit like stage-magic too. When you don’t know how it’s done, you fall for the illusion, but when you know what to look for, it is easy to spot where is the trick.

Also a lot of how we percieve the world is shaped by how we think about the world. And how we think about the world is influenced a lot by upbringing or stuff like language. So why not also with magic?